Page 1 of 1

Rating STK soccer fields

PostPosted: 02 Oct 2020, 17:33
by FabianF
Hello.
This therad is about the arenas of STK's second most played gamemode: Soccer.

Why doing this at all?
For STK 2.0, there should be several new soccer fields in the main game. 3 is too little, and 2 of these 3 aren't very good, e.g. Las Dunas just sucks. 10-15 fields would be nice, this would lead to some more different arenas being played online and overall there are some nice fields that definitely deserve to get into the main game because they have good gameplay but also good graphics.

Currently there are 27 soccer fields, including the 3 standard ones. There are several pretty bad ones, but also some really nice ones.

You of course will often disagree with me, or have a different opinion. Please make sure to leave an answer if you are interested in soccer fields. Also note I spent quite much time on this and it is very detailed (maybe too detailed?).


The criteria the rating is based on:
Overall [max 26]
Graphics [max 6]: How good the field looks (textures, background, etc).
Originality [max 2]: How original the field is, not just boring copy with different textures.
Newbie-friendliness [max 2]: Whether a new player can understand what to do.
Difficulty [max 2]: How difficult it is to score, means whether goals are scored too easily or not easy enough .
Bugfreeness [max 2]: Whether the field has bugs.
Online compability [max 2]: Whether it is laggy online.
Item placement [max 3]: How well nitro and gifts are placed.
Starting positions [max 3]: How well starting positions are placed.
Balance [max 2]: Whether the two sides are balanced (not item placement).
Music [max 2]: How good the music is and how well it fits the field.
Extra point [max 1]: An extra point can be given if a field has something particularly special and good, or if it needs more points for things that cannot be rated for other fields.


#27 Air Hockey [11.5/26]
Graphics [1/6]: Ugly. Floor texture is kinda okay, the rest is just boring and low quality.
Originality [0.5/2]: At least different goals and puck color.
Newbie-friendliness [1/2]: Newbies might be confused with the weird looking goals, and the puck being out of allowed boundaries too often.
Difficulty [1.5/2]: Pretty okay, sometimes a bit too easy to score.
Bugfreeness [0/2]: A somewhat game destroying bug is the puck sometimes teleporting through or going unser the kart without reason. Also the puck is going out of the borders forcing a restart quite a lot.
Online compability [2/2]: No lags.
Item placement [1.5/3]: Starting in a gift and small nitro which is bad. At least balanced.
Starting positions [1/3]: Weird order, too much space between karts, only 3 per row.
Balance [2/2]: Nothing bad.
Music [1/2]: Nice music but doesn't fit the arena.
Extra point [-]: none


#26 inapit [11.5/26]
Graphics [2/6]: Low-quality, more cartoonish than realistic which doesn't look good. Unncessarily different textures for the two ramps.
Originality [2/2]: An original and well-working idea.
Newbie-friendliness [1/2]: Newbies could be confused by the ramps and by bugs and starting positions.
Difficulty [0/2]: Way too difficult. It shouldn't take 35 minutes to score 10 goals.
Bugfreeness [1/2]: The Ball gets out of allowed boundaries too often and unnecessarily.
Online compability [2/2]: Not laggy.
Item placement [1/3]: Creative but unfortuantely imbalanced. Items on the upper part of the field would be nice too.
Starting positions [0.5/3]: Broken as being on the wrong side. Wrong order as well, overall very bad. 0.5 points for acceptable placement if in the right order and on the right side.
Balance [2/2]: None except item placement.
Music [0/2]: The horrible standard music, not even fitting the field's theme.
Extra point [-]: none


#25 Vivid Vacuum [15/26]
Graphics [1/6]: The ugliest addon out there. It has nothing basically, and the floor texture (which is the main one) is ugly.
Originality [2/2]: Very special and creative field.
Newbie-friendliness [0/2]: Newbies won't understand how to score.
Difficulty [1.5/2]: Can be a bit too difficult.
Bugfreeness [2/2]: Not buggy.
Online compability [2/2]: Usually no lags.
Item placement [2.5/3]: Balanced and well placed. Maybe the items should be closer to the start (or additional ones placed next to the goals) and the gifts are too difficult to get because they are placed only in the middle.
Starting positions [1.5/3]: Too close to each other. Weird order too.
Balance [2/2]: No issues.
Music [0.5/2]: Not that good, and not really fitting either.


#24 Experimental Plane - Field 3 [15.5/26]
Graphics [2.5/6]: The check pattern is annoying for players' eyes. Overall rather low-quality, but at least rather dark and easily visible team colours.
Originality [2/2]: Very different gameplay.
Newbie-friendliness [0/2]: Newbies are confused how to score, as well as the textures can make them go crazy.
Difficulty [0.5/2]: Way too difficult to score. Got a bit better in the last update though.
Bugfreeness [2/2]: No known bugs.
Online compability [2/2]: No lags usually.
Item placement [1.5/3]: Too many things and a minor imbalance.
Starting positions [1.5/3]: There is no reason they are on the sides and they also seem to be in the wrong order.
Balance [1.5/2]: The blue floor texture is hurting player's more than the red one.
Music [1.5/2]: Weird but okay and fitting.
Extra point [0.5]: Making a basketball field is very original and deserves 0.5 bonus points.


#23 Las Dunas Soccer Stadium [15.5/26]
Graphics [5.5/6]: Nothing really bad in graphics, just the smoke a bit annoying.
Originality [1.5/2]: Not completely normal ball field, a bit changed like different goals and unusual borders.
Newbie-friendliness [1/2]: Newbies are confused about the things on the side and the outlets on the ground closed by a grate.
Difficulty [0.5/2]: Way too hard to score goals. There have been matches taking 30 minutes for 15 goals.
Bugfreeness [2/2]: No more bugs known since one was fixed.
Online compability [0.5/2]: Many people lagging, unplayable for players with bad device or internet.
Item placement [2/3]: Balanced with a banana-nitro and gift-nitro set on each side. Bananas are a bit useless and gift-nitro directly to each other is pretty overpowered, but that's both rather minor.
Starting positions [2/3]: Not well sorted. 2nd and 4th position are better than 1st and 3rd which can become an issue for 1v2 etc. In the right order they would be fine.
Balance [0/2]: Bad. Blue team has a clear advantage due to bad corners of the map.
Music [0.5/2]: Not very good and not fitting either.
Extra point [-]: None


#22 Experimental Plane - Field 1 [16/26]
Graphics [2/6]: The check pattern is annoying for players' eyes. Overall rather low-quality.
Originality [2/2]: Completely different gameplay.
Newbie-friendliness [0/2]: Newbies are confused where to go and how to score, as well as the textures can make them go crazy.
Difficulty [1.5/2]: A bit too difficult to score.
Bugfreeness [1.5/2]: A minor visual bug allowing to see through walls.
Online compability [2/2]: Fine.
Item placement [2/3]: Too many gifts, but balanced and on both platforms.
Starting positions [1.5/3]: Not well sorted. 2nd and 4th position are better than 1st and 3rd which can become an issue for 1v2 etc. Also maybe they could be not so close to each other and placed so that players come from different directions to the ball.
Balance [2/2]: Alright.
Music [1.5/2]: Sounding a bit weird, but pretty much fitting.
Extra points [-]: none


#21 Experimental Plane - Field 2 [16.5/26]
Graphics [2.5/6]: The check pattern is annoying for players' eyes. Overall rather low-quality, but colorful.
Originality [2/2]: Completely different gameplay.
Newbie-friendliness [0/2]: Newbies are confused where to go and how to score, as well as the textures can make them go crazy.
Difficulty [1/2]: Too difficult to score.
Bugfreeness [2/2]: No known bugs.
Online compability [2/2]: No lags usually.
Item placement [1.5/3]: Way too many things, but balanced.
Starting positions [1.5/3]: Way too far to each other, there should be at least 3 in a row and not that much difference between the rows. A Team having defenders on the top and attackers at the back will lose every start.
Balance [2/2]: Nothing imbalanced.
Music [1.5/2]: Sounding a bit weird, but pretty much fitting.
Extra points [0.5]: Moving things are making this field particularly interesting.


#20 Another Soccer Field [16.5/26]
Graphics [4/6]: Alright, nice background textures, what is visible next to the field is rather boring since repetetive.
Originality [0/2]: Just a normal ball field.
Newbie-friendliness [1.5/2]: New players could be confused by the bug (see below).
Difficulty [1.5/2]: Okay, start goals can be annoying.
Bugfreeness [1/2]: Players can drive through the goals' nets to get outside the field. Not that important though.
Online compability [2/2]: No lags.
Item placement [1.5/3]: No balance, nitro only on one side. At least one more nitro would be nice.
Starting positions [2/3]: Not well sorted. 2nd and 4th position are better than 1st and 3rd which can become an issue for 1v2 etc. In the right order they would be fine.
Balance [2/2]: All fine.
Music [1/2]: Absolutely not fitting.
Extra point [-]: none


#19 Nitro Soccer Field [17/26]
Graphics [3.5/6]: Nothing special, alright.
Originality [1/2]: A normal field execpt items and the heavy ball.
Newbie-friendliness [1/2]: Newbies will be annoyed and confused by the heavy ball.
Difficulty [0.5/2]: Too difficult due to the ball.
Bugfreeness [1.5/2]: It seems there is an invisible wall above the field that makes the ball not being able to jump as high as he actually would do. Not game destorying though.
Online compability [2/2]: No lags.
Item placement [2/3]: It's part of the creativity of the field that there are many items. Well placed.
Starting positions [2/3]: Not well sorted. 2nd and 4th position are better than 1st and 3rd which can become an issue for 1v2 etc. In the right order they would be fine.
Balance [2/2]: No issues.
Music [1.5/2]: Not pefect, but not bad either.
Extra point [-]: none


#18 Nitro Soccer Field (alt) [17/26]
Graphics [3.5/6]: Nothing special, alright.
Originality [0.5/2]: A normal field execpt items.
Newbie-friendliness [2/2]: Nothing bad.
Difficulty [2/2]: Fine.
Bugfreeness [1.5/2]: It seems there is an invisible wall above the field that makes the ball not being able to jump as high as he actually would do. Not game destorying though.
Online compability [2/2]: No lags.
Item placement [1/3]: It's part of the creativity of the field that there are many items, but there is no reason for it anymore. With the heavy ball it does make sense - without it not.
Starting positions [2/3]: Not well sorted. 2nd and 4th position are better than 1st and 3rd which can become an issue for 1v2 etc. In the right order they would be fine.
Balance [2/2]: No issues.
Music [1.5/2]: Not pefect, but not bad either.
Extra point [-]: none


#17 Box [17/26]
Graphics [3/6]: Nothing special, rather boring.
Originality [2/2]: A box as ball, no usual shape and zippers in the goal are three nice creative elements.
Newbie-friendliness [1/2]: Newbies could be confused a bit about the weirdly moving box and zippers, as well as due to restarts because of the box being out of borders.
Difficulty [2/2]: About right.
Bugfreeness [0.5/2]: The box/ball often goes too far leading to restarts. Goals can be scored by shooting too high, however this doesn't happen very often.
Online compability [1/2]: The box is teleporting/moving in a weird way with lags.
Item placement [2.5/3]: Kinda okay, maybe the first nitro and gift too close to start.
Starting positions [2.5/3]: Only 2 karts per row is a bit weird.
Balance [2/2]: Even if the field has an unusual shape, no imbalance happens.
Music [0.5/2]: Somewhat weird and not really fitting.
Extra point [-]: none


#16 Mega Puck [17.5/26]
Graphics [3.5/6]: Okay but a bit boring. Low-quality floor texture.
Originality [2/2]: The obvious creative element is the big puck, but also the field's different shape is great.
Newbie-friendliness [1/2]: Newbies could be annoyed by the big puck and the different shape.
Difficulty [0/2]: Way too difficult.
Bugfreeness [2/2]: No bugs.
Online compability [2/2]: Usually no problems.
Item placement [1.5/3]: Starting in a gift is bad. Overall this field may be more interesting with more items.
Starting positions [1.5/3]: Right order, but they should be closer to each other. Only one kart in the front row is kinda annoying too.
Balance [2/2]: No imbalance.
Music [2/2]: Very nice. Not perfectly fitting, but acceptable.
Extra point [-]: none


#15 Igneous Playground [17.5/26]
Graphics [4/6]: Decent but nothing particularly interesting.
Originality [2/2]: Creative field.
Newbie-friendliness [0.5/2]: Newbies will be confused how to score.
Difficulty [0/2]: Way too difficult.
Bugfreeness [1.5/2]: A grid sometimes not being displayed is a minor visual bug.
Online compability [2/2]: Usually unlaggy.
Item placement [3/3]: Well placed items.
Starting positions [0.5/3]: It's horrible starting positions are partly outside and partly inside.
Balance [2/2]: No imbalance.
Music [2/2]: Nice, fitting.
Extra point [-]: none


#14 SuperTournament Field [17.5/26]
Graphics [4/6]: Decent, but nothing special.
Originality [1.5/2]: Except two zippers and a different puck texture a normal puck field.
Newbie-friendliness [1/2]: The zipper is more annoying than helpful for newbies, as well as the blue puck can confuse them.
Difficulty [2/2]: Fine.
Bugfreeness [1/2]: Rescuing often teleports the player outside of the field.
Online compability [2/2]: Usually no lags.
Item placement [1.5/3]: Blue and red halves are balanced, but items are only on the left side on one half. Starting position in nitro is bad.
Starting positions [1/3]: Wrong order and ultra weird fourth starting position.
Balance [2/2]: No issues.
Music [1.5/2]: Gets annoying after some time and could be louder, but overall nice and fitting.
Extra point [-]: none


#13 Soccer Field [18/26]
Graphics [3.5/6]: Lower-quality grass texture, walls rather not very high-quality either, stadium is good though. Overall pretty boring graphically.
Originality [0/2]: Just a normal ball field.
Newbie-friendliness [2/2]: Obvious where to go and where borders are.
Difficulty [2/2]: Kinda okay.
Bugfreeness [1.5/2]: A minor bug allowing to see through walls when being in goal, otherwise none.
Online compability [2/2]: Usually no lags.
Item placement [1.5/3]: Unbalanced because of only one nitro. More nitro wanted.
Starting positions [2/3]: Not well sorted. 2nd and 4th position are better than 1st and 3rd which can become an issue for 1v2 etc. In the right order they would be fine.
Balance [2/2]: The only issue is item placement, see above.
Music [1.5/2]: Okay, but improvable. Fits surprisingly well though.
Extra point [-]: none


#12 Fan [18.5/26]
Graphics [3/6]: Nothing special, but not completely bad either.
Originality [1/2]: Except the fans there is nothing changed compared to a normal puck field.
Newbie-friendliness [1.5/2]: Newbies could be confused by the jumping puck and karts.
Difficulty [2/2]: About right.
Bugfreeness [1.5/2]: Sometimes rescuing will make the kart teleport into the wall.
Online compability [1/2]: Can be really laggy, puck going under the field and doing huge teleports; however this doesn't happen every game.
Item placement [1.5/3]: Starting in a nitro and having a gift directly next to the start is bad, also more nitro would be good. No imbalance at least.
Starting positions [3/3]: Good.
Balance [2/2]: Nothing bad.
Music [2/2]: Really nice and fitting music.
Extra point [-]: none


#11 Database [18.5/26]
Graphics [4/6]: Fast moving animations with numbers can be torturing player's eyes, still looking nice though. Rather uninteresting floor texture.
Originality [0.5/2]: Except some minor differences a normal puck field.
Newbie-friendliness [0.5/2]: Not very newbie-friendly due to graphical animations that can confuse a lot. Item places are marked by something that's looking similar to the puck, new players will be confused of that as well.
Difficulty [2/2]: Fine.
Bugfreeness [1.5/2]: A once happened bug is the puck being stuck.
Online compability [2/2]: Usually no lag problems.
Item placement [1.5/3]: No balance, nitro only on one side. At least one more nitro would be nice.
Starting positions [2/3]: Not well sorted. 2nd and 4th position are better than 1st and 3rd which can become an issue for 1v2 etc. In the right order they would be fine.
Balance [2/2]: The only issue is item placement, see above.
Music [2/2]: Cool music fitting the field's theme.
Extra point [0.5]: The special skid texture (binary numbers) is worth a half bonus point.


#10 Math Class [18.5/26]
Graphics [4.5/6]: Decent, mostly copied from the track. Not prefect though, but pretty good.
Originality [0.5/2]: Except some minor changes in the goals' and ball's properties, just a normal ball field.
Newbie-friendliness [2/2]: Nothing that could confuse newbies.
Difficulty [1.5/2]: Kinda okay, but the field should be upscaled a bit.
Bugfreeness [2/2]: No bugs known.
Online compability [2/2]: Not laggy.
Item placement [1/3]: Imbalanced and gifts too close to the start. One nitro only.
Starting positions [1.5/3]: Wrong order and too close to each other.
Balance [2/2]: No problems except item placements.
Music [1.5/2]: Not that good, but fitting.
Extra point [-]: none


#9 Cosmic [19/26]
Graphics [4.5/6]: Pretty nice, including background. Not prefect though. Bad textures at the point the field goes uphill.
Originality [1.5/2]: Nice different ball, having to go uphill is a cool original element too.
Newbie-friendliness [1.5/2]: Newbies may be confused about the hill.
Difficulty [1/2]: Definitely too difficult to score.
Bugfreeness [0/2]: Unfortunately, the ball can be shot over the goal and will still be counted as scored goal unless hitting a particular point.
Online compability [2/2]: No lags in usual cases.
Item placement [2.5/3]: A bit too much nitro, but overall nice and balanced.
Starting positions [2/3]: Not well sorted. 2nd and 4th position are better than 1st and 3rd which can become an issue for 1v2 etc. In the right order they would be fine.
Balance [2/2]: All fine.
Music [2/2]: Very nice and fitting music.
Extra point [-]: none


#8 Zen [19/26]
Graphics [5.5/6]: Nice graphics and detailed backgrounds.
Originality [0/2]: Pretty much a normal ball field.
Newbie-friendliness [1.5/2]: Newbies may be confused about the goals having no nets, and because it's rather difficult to see which goal is the red and which the blue one. Minor though.
Difficulty [0.5/2]: Way too easy to score goals, annoying much start goals. Games with more than 25 goals in 10 minutes - bad.
Bugfreeness [2/2]: No known bugs.
Online compability [2/2]: Usually not laggy.
Item placement [1.5/3]: No balance, nitro only on one side. At least one more nitro would be nice, maybe even a nitro replacing a gift.
Starting positions [2/3]: Not well sorted. 2nd and 4th position are better than 1st and 3rd which can become an issue for 1v2 etc. In the right order they would be fine.
Balance [2/2]: The only issue is item placement, see above.
Music [2/2]: Nice and fitting.
Extra point [-]: none


#7 Hole Drop [19.5/26]
Graphics [4/6]: Nice, but a bit boring.
Originality [1.5/2]: Quite creative to have holes instead of goals, but just a normal puck field except that.
Newbie-friendliness [1.5/2]: Newbies could be confused about the holes.
Difficulty [1.5/2]: A bit too easy to score.
Bugfreeness [1.5/2]: Not really a bug, but it takes a differently long time, but always quite long until the game realizes a goal has been scored.
Online compability [2/2]: Lags usually don't happen.
Item placement [2.5/3]: Starting next to a big nitro is not so nice, other than that fine.
Starting positions [2/3]: Not well sorted. 2nd and 4th position are better than 1st and 3rd which can become an issue for 1v2 etc. In the right order they would be fine.
Balance [2/2]: All okay.
Music [1/2]: Nice, but not fitting the field's theme.
Extra point [-]: none


#6 Asteroid Soccer [19.5/26]
Graphics [5/6]: Decent. Maybe a few more non-black parts would be nice, and moving things confuse more than they help, but are a nice element though.
Originality [2/2]: Probably the most original field.
Newbie-friendliness [0/2]: The opposite of being newbie-friendly. Completely confusing, partly even for more experienced players.
Difficulty [0.5/2]: Too difficult to score. Downscaling the map a bit might help.
Bugfreeness [2/2]: No bugs known except fixed ones.
Online compability [1.5/2]: Can be laggy for some players.
Item placement [1/3]: Not enough items for such a big field, especially more nitro needed. Probably not completely balanced either.
Starting positions [3/3]: Good.
Balance [2/2]: Nothing bad.
Music [2/2]: Nice and fitting.
Extra point [0.5]: Half an extra point for this creative field that challenges even experienced players.


#5 Egypt [19.5/26]
Graphics [5.5/6]: Decent. Nice textures mostly, columns on the field could be less boring.
Originality [1/2]: Columns on the field, other than that just a normal ball field.
Newbie-friendliness [1.5/2]: Newbies can become discouraged by the columns blocking the ball.
Difficulty [0.5/2]: Way too difficult to score.
Bugfreeness [2/2]: No bugs known.
Online compability [2/2]: Hardly ever lags.
Item placement [2/3]: Acceptable, a bit too many gifts and gifts gettable directly after the start.
Starting positions [2/3]: Not well sorted. 2nd and 4th position are better than 1st and 3rd which can become an issue for 1v2 etc. In the right order they would be fine.
Balance [2/2]: No problems.
Music [1/2]: Not top level, but not bad either.
Extra points [-]: none


#4 Soccer Arena X [20/26]
Graphics [4/6]: Decent. Maybe a bit too dark and there could be more variety.
Originality [2/2]: Several goals, different shape - creative field.
Newbie-friendliness [1.5/2]: Newbies could be confused by so many goals.
Difficulty [0.5/2]: Surprisingly good, a bit too easy to score (1.5). Something that doesn't really belong in any category but should be punished: Annoying ball at the start since you will have to brake to hit it properly (-1).
Bugfreeness [2/2]: No known bugs.
Online compability [2/2]: Not laggy.
Item placement [2.5/3]: Balanced and a good number of items.
Starting positions [2/3]: A bit weird to have players come from all sides. Okay otherwise though.
Balance [2/2]: No issues.
Music [1/2]: Great music, but not really fitting.
Extra point [-]: none


#3 Tournament Field [20.5/26]
Graphics [4.5/6]: Quite nice, good stadium, amazing snow fall and cool ice texture. Feels a little bit empty though, and the red/blue floor texture in the goals seems somewhat misplaced.
Originality [0/2]: A normal puck field.
Newbie-friendliness [2/2]: Nothing confusing for newbies.
Difficulty [2/2]: Fine.
Bugfreeness [2/2]: No bugs known.
Online compability [2/2]: Not laggy.
Item placement [2/3]: Imbalanced, but the nitro in front of the goal is nice.
Starting positions [2/3]: Not well sorted. 2nd and 4th position are better than 1st and 3rd which can become an issue for 1v2 etc. In the right order they would be fine.
Balance [2/2]: The only issue is item placement, see above.
Music [2/2]: Nice and fitting music.
Extra point [-]: none


#2 Icy Soccer Field [21/26]
Graphics [5.5/6]: Decent. Maybe the part next to the goals shouldn't be completely white.
Originality [0/2]: Just a puck field.
Newbie-friendliness [2/2]: No problems with understanding where to go or where the field's border is.
Difficulty [2/2]: Fine, goals directly after the start can happen, but also 3 minutes without any goal are possible.
Bugfreeness [2/2]: A field without bugs.
Online compability [2/2]: No lag problems with a proper connection.
Item placement [1.5/3]: No balance, nitro only on one side. At least one more nitro would be nice.
Starting positions [2/3]: Not well sorted. 2nd and 4th position are better than 1st and 3rd which can become an issue for 1v2 etc. In the right order they would be fine.
Balance [2/2]: The only issue is item placement, see above.
Music [2/2]: Nice and fitting music.
Extra point [-]: none


#1 Forest [21.5/26]
Graphics [6/6]: The best soccer field if it comes to graphics. Very nice.
Originality [2/2]: Good originality with trees in the fields and round shape with goals being a bit back.
Newbie-friendliness [1.5/2]: Newbies can become discouraged by the trees blocking the ball.
Difficulty [2/2]: Surprisingly good, not too difficult like other ball fields.
Bugfreeness [1/2]: Several minor bugs happening, most popular is probably a sometimes appearing invisible wall in the goal.
Online compability [0.5/2]: Unfortunately, laggy for quite a lot of players.
Item placement [2.5/3]: Maybe a bit too many gifts. Good placement though, and nicely marked on the floor.
Starting positions [1.5/3]: Not well sorted. 2nd and 4th position are better than 1st and 3rd which can become an issue for 1v2 etc. In the right order they would be fine.
Balance [2/2]: No problems.
Music [2/2]: Still one of the best music ever existing in STK, and very fitting.
Extra point [0.5]: This field deserves a half extra point for doing nearly everything right and offering both great graphics and gameplay.

Re: Rating STK soccer fields

PostPosted: 02 Oct 2020, 18:03
by fracture
I think some of the soccer fields based on the official tracks (Forest, math class, egypt, and Zen) should be in the main game. Cosmic is probably my favorite soccer field.

Re: Rating STK soccer fields

PostPosted: 02 Oct 2020, 18:09
by FabianF
I agree. All of these are based on tracks and well made, so they have reasons to be included in the main game. Fields based on tracks shouldn't be the only ones that get included in the main game though.

I like Cosmic too, but as written above, it bugs and unless the bug isn't fixed it definitely shouldn't be in the main game.

Re: Rating STK soccer fields

PostPosted: 02 Oct 2020, 18:59
by Alayan
While the track roaster won't change for 1.3, including some additional soccer fields is a different matter. I think it could be done to add a few, say Forest, Tournament Field and Egypt, with improved start positions/items.

Re: Rating STK soccer fields

PostPosted: 02 Oct 2020, 19:23
by FabianF
I think Tournament Field shouldn't be in the main game, it's pretty similar to Icy. A texture modded version would do it but I guess it'd be better to add a different field instead of Tournament Field.

Changing Forest/Egypt/something else?'s starting positions and item placement shouldn't be too difficult. Also the 3 current standard fields should be changed for 1.3 so.

Re: Rating STK soccer fields

PostPosted: 02 Oct 2020, 20:05
by re342
Overall I agree with this rating. But in my opinion, the difficulty (following your definition) is besides the graphics the most important criterion. It reflects the game experience, the right trade-off between luck and strategy. I would give it a higher weight, maybe 4 or 5 points.

By the way, I disagree with the difficulty 0.5/2 for asteroid soccer. I know that it is quite hard to learn this field, so the 0/2 for newbie-friendliness is obvious. But for experienced players, it is not much more difficult to score than in icy. I would give 1.5/2. The same for cosmic, it is also hard to learn but for experienced players it is not really difficult to score.

Regarding the number of soccer fields in the main game, I think it should be better too high than too low. It is very boring to play always the same 3 (or also 5) fields. I agree with FabianF that there should be at least 10-15.

Re: Rating STK soccer fields

PostPosted: 02 Oct 2020, 22:22
by skindoormimiz
I appreciate your effort on making this ranking.

My goal is to make original fields using different mechanics. Air Hockey is definitely my worse field, but I'm planning on adding invisible walls, the fact that the puck goes under the kart is an online issue that I can't solve unless I make it taller (that makes no sense).

Re: Rating STK soccer fields

PostPosted: 03 Oct 2020, 05:57
by tempAnon093
I absolutely agree that there should be new fields. I suspect (without any evidence) that it was seen as more of a bonus mode before 1.0 online release, so there are only 3 and that's not enough.
I disagree that Las Dunas sucks, even if you just mean the gameplay. it's a necessary change-up compared to the two plain playing fields. I can see how serious players would find that annoying but I think it's a feature. That said, it could be replaced by other fields so long as they serve a similar role.

I'm just happy Vivid Vacuum wasn't last. I don't mind the graphics or music but I understand not liking them.

This is a bit of a spoiler, but I have been thinking of making a 'multi-ball' field (if no-one scores within a set time, like 1 minute, another ball/puck drops onto the field).

As a side note, why are soccer fields placed in Tracks and not Arenas in addons?

Re: Rating STK soccer fields

PostPosted: 03 Oct 2020, 06:36
by FabianF
Only 3 fields for a mode which isn't played much is acceptable. But soccer became more played than ranked races and time trials, and there is nothing against adding more fields to the main game.

Las Dunas is nice graphically, no doubt. But gameplay-wise it's one of the worst arenas: way too difficult to score and huge imbalance due to the field's shape. I believe it could become a good field with some changes, I may write more about that later.

Vivid Vacuum - well, I personally really don't like it, but I've met people who told it was one of the 10 best fields, so it's matter of taste, and having original/special fields is definitely a good thing.

The "multi-ball" idea sounds really cool! I'm looking forward to you realizing it!

Yes, this "placed in tracks" is weird. It has been told on discord and on irc several times already (best would be having an own category for soccer fields), so I assume the people in charge know about it.

Re: Rating STK soccer fields

PostPosted: 03 Oct 2020, 06:59
by QwertyChouskie
skindoormimiz {l Wrote}:I appreciate your effort on making this ranking.

My goal is to make original fields using different mechanics. Air Hockey is definitely my worse field, but I'm planning on adding invisible walls, the fact that the puck goes under the kart is an online issue that I can't solve unless I make it taller (that makes no sense).


You can make it taller physics-wise without making it visually taller by adding a physics-only circle on top the the main one, just as long as you don't make it too high for the goals.

Re: Rating STK soccer fields

PostPosted: 11 Oct 2020, 20:33
by Wuzzy
If you add more soccer maps, I suggest to focus on maps that actually offer different gameplay as well, and not just different graphics.
For stuff like e.g. obstacles, slopes, etc.
I don't see much point in having 25 soccer tracks that are identical in gameplay and only differ in theming.

Re: Rating STK soccer fields

PostPosted: 12 Oct 2020, 03:31
by tempAnon093
Wuzzy {l Wrote}:I don't see much point in having 25 soccer tracks that are identical in gameplay and only differ in theming.

Definitely. It might be useful for people to suggest ideas for interesting fields in the suggestions thread. I can try and rush out a prototype multi-ball map tonight just to see if it even works. it doesn't
I haven't played many games online, but it's worth asking what the worst parts of the soccer game is. For example, I think it's not fun when three or more players get into a deadlock, where they're all pushing the puck against the wall and you have to wait for someone to get a bowling ball or a cupcake. Therefore it might be a good idea to design maps where this won't happen (such as having moving walls/lifts/action-triggers that launch the puck up in the air and towards the middle like a throw-in). Or if players crowding the goals is an issue, it is good to have maps like Hole Drop where you can score from in front of the goal or from behind it.

Re: Rating STK soccer fields

PostPosted: 23 Oct 2020, 13:47
by Wuzzy
I noticed most soccer arenas are pretty big. Can you classify the soccer arenas for "neutral" stuff like size / recommended player count? That would be very useful.

Classification by:
- Size / recommended player count
- Ball type (ball, puck, etc.)
- Goal type (normal, hole, etc.)
- Number of goals
- Theme
- Anything else that is special about it

Would be very helpful.


I have now checked out some of the highest ranking arenas.
Personally, I like (in no order):
- Icy Soccer Field
- Forest (the circular shape makes it surprisingly fun!)
- Soccer Field (but I agree the graphics are terrible)
- Soccer Arena X (IMO the most unique soccer arena. Very fun. We need more things like this! But the music is wrong.)
- Math Class (the goals should be "deeper" to have more room for the ball)
- Egypt (I like that the item spawn positions are marked. The obelisks also make it unique and more than just a reskin)
- Cosmic (but the goals need a floor IMO)
- Asteroid Soccer (sadly, the floor is invisible. Also, I don't like the custom ball. I suggest to at least use the "soccer pattern" on the rock, just a light tinting could do the trick)

I agree the Las Dunas Stadium is surprisingly terrible (apart from gfx), mainly because of the broken balancing. It's sad that an official soccer arena is so bad. The low rank in your list makes complete sense IMO.
And Soccer Field really, really needs a facelift. It is the most ugly environment in the entire game.

I like it when soccer arenas are based on existing tracks. I think this makes perfect sense, soccer arenas don't need to be completely unique in that they bring completely new textures.

I also like it when soccer arenas have a little "gimmick". I think when we start to think about adding more soccer arenas into the official game, each track should have something that sets them apart—gameplay-wise—from the rest. Not just Soccer Field with a different theme (Las Dunas Stadium is mostly the same like Soccer Field, but worse).

Like Soccer Field is your standard soccer arena, Icy Soccer Field has a puck, one arena could have obstacles (like Egypt), another arena could be tilted, one arena has more than 2 goals, one arena has funny ramps, etc. etc. etc.
In the official game, I would also consider adding small versions of the more "important" arenas to support 1vs1 or 2vs2 matches better. I think Math Class would be a good candidate for the “small” version of Soccer Field. :-)

As for Las Dunas Stadium. I'm afraid this arena needs to be completely redone. The border needs to be balanced out for both themes. It might make sense to maybe add some ramps or other fun stuff, otherwise this arena is basically just a "reskin" of Soccer Field.


EDIT: I noticed that Forest has a serious bug. Sometimes, when you hit the border with your kart, all karts and the ball are reset to their starting positions... VERY WEIRD! The supposed online lagginess could be fixed by using low-poly versions of the models,maybe? I have no idea.

Re: Rating STK soccer fields

PostPosted: 23 Oct 2020, 17:13
by FabianF
https://www.luffah.xyz/wiki/supertuxkar ... techniques -> Ball statistics, there are at least some stats about the maps. I may add more later, feel free to add something as well. :-)
Imo, there is nothing like "Recommended player count". Any map can be played with only 2, but also with 12 players. Of course there are differences in the fields' sizes, e.g. Asteroid is a rather big field while Math Class should be one of the smallest. The fields' size also is part of the difficulty since bigger fields often (but not always!) make scoring too difficult and smaller fields make it too easy whatsoever.

Forest indeed has several minor bugs as written above, I do however think most of them (most of the ones I know at least) should be fixable in some way. Lagginess is a huge problem, similar to Las Dunas, Forest is hardly chosen in online games (*they play Icy only anyway, lol*) because of its lags. Maybe it's improvable. But here as well, we need to ask Crystal as the field's designer to make changes.

Soccer Field really needs some graphical improvements. I mainly don't like the grass texture, but there are other things as well to be changed.

Soccer Arena X is quite original indeed, also one of the oldest maps even if now remade. The music is not fitting as I also wrote, and it has annoying starts, read "Difficulty" section in my rating.

Personally I wouldn't consider Math Class as one of my favourites, it surely has some room for improvements. Dunno.

Egypt is fine. A bit too difficult to score, that's basically the only problem the field has.

Cosmic. Meh. I do like the field, but again the difficulty is bad. And it's really buggy, as written above.

Asteroid Soccer is imo the most original field. It wouldn't be that fun with a visible floor, so it's fine to have it invisible, which is also intended. And I do like the custom ball, it's part of the originality of a field.

I completely agree a field should have something original to be included in the main game. Having several fields that just differ in their theme is very boring. And there are enough creative fields out there.

Las Dunas, Las Dunas, ... :-/ The imbalanced borders are a poor try to give this field something creative. It's seriously lagging as well. Completely redone - hm, not sure that's needed, but it definitely needs several major changes and something creative would be nice as well.

I'm afraid there are no really good puck fields with potentials to get into the main game. Players prefer puck definitely, but looking at my ranking, there are no really good puck maps that would - mostly graphically - meet the requirements to get into the main game.